Sweet One (Titan Book 8) Read Online Free Page A

brother’s eyebrows went up, and he smiled. “Beth.”
    “About damn time.”
    “Agree.” Roman nodded, saying all they needed to say. The tension between the two had been noticeable to the entire team, but neither Beth nor Roman had outwardly admitted any interest.
    Nicola was happy for them, but it only reminded her how much she needed Cash. “I’m going to go back to my husband. I need a nap.”
    Roman gathered up the papers that he and Jared had been working on. “I’m out too.”
    “Take care of Beth, okay? She fights you because she needs you. When that last mental hang-up of hers is gone, she’s yours forever.”
    “ I know that. When she clues in, what is supposed to happen will happen.”
    God, her brother was the right guy for Beth. “Right answer.”
    “Glad you think so.”
    “I love you, Roman.”
    “Love you too, kid. Go take care of our boy. And my—niece? Nephew?”
    “Too early still.” Nicola’s stomach fluttered as she wondered if Cash would want a boy or girl.
    “Alright. Either way, go.” Roman turned her out the door and sent her packing.
    A minute later, she was looking at Cash’s hospital bed. Nothing else mattered but her family. She dropped the bag, slipped off her shoes, and crawled in next to him, snuggling under the covers and hating every second he didn’t call her “sweet girl” and kiss her goodnight as she drifted to sleep. Memories of sleeping together under the stars on their first date, and how magical that was, replaced her worries about the stiff, silent man next to her.

CHAPTER FOUR
     
    Billy Tway chewed the inside of his mouth, backing out of the door, trying not to trip over his feet as his mind raced. He somehow knew what he’d seen on the other side of that hospital room door was his ticket out of hell.
    “Hey, Twat Waffle,” a uniformed Army a-hole joked as he passed.
    “ Tway ,” Billy said, the response he’d given more often than any other in all his years in the military. Maybe more than “Yes, sir.” Everyone liked someone to pick on, and Billy had been the guy.
    “You missed a spot.” The jerk—from the back of his head, he looked to be an eighteen-year-old ground pounder—never slowed down.
    “I’m not the janitor!” No one respected him! Even the newbies. Billy couldn’t control it. Both hands went into overdrive, punching middle fingers into the air.
    The kid laughed. “Easy, broke dick.”
    But he never turned around. “What the fuck? What the fuck?” Billy wanted to charge and jump the man from behind but needed to concentrate on what he’d just seen in the hospital room. His mind was all over the place.
    Bouncing in place, his torn mind had problems deciding which direction to take. Go after the young one who needed to know what his last name really was, or follow up on the thought tickling the edge of his mind?
    The newbie looked over his shoulder before rounding a corner of a hallway. His face was pure, antagonizing bait. Billy took the bait and swallowed it—and charged.
    An unseen arm jutted out. The blunt obstacle from out of nowhere caught him like a concrete clothesline, and he went down, coughing and sputtering. A med tech who had tried semisuccessfully to watch his back over the years shook his head, looking annoyed. “Cut the shit, Tway.”
    Tway . Billy’s throat might’ve been crushed, but he could breathe better at the sound of his last name. Not fucking Twat Waffle .
    “You stand no chance with anyone on base.”
    “Not true.” He sputtered.
    “Keep your head low, and you’re out of here. Fuck up, and you’re in the brig. What don’t you get about that?”
    Billy pushed onto his butt, sliding against the wall. “We had a situation.”
    The med tech shook his head. “Keep your head low. Try to stay out of trouble, and you get to go home. Don’t you get it? Don’t fuck up .”
    Billy pushed off the ground. “All day long, all I do is fix fuckups.”
    “I’m doing you a favor. Guys like you need